Coordination: Oier Iruretagoiena, Xabier Erkizia y Miguel Álvarez-Fernández.
Date: From 24 to 28 august
Participants: 12
Inscription: DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL 16 AUGUST
Inscription: Send your personal dates with your CV and project with your work dossier to arteleku@gipuzkoa.net
Introduction:
Changes to theradiophonic medium over recent years have forced us to reconsider the grounds of any creative approach to this type of communication. Our relationship with the radio (or, if you prefer, with radiophonics) can never be the same since the spread of podcasting, or commercial platforms, such as Last.fm or Spotify, to name just a few. These new technologies currently exist with others, which reflect very different approaches, such as the satellite broadcasting networks run by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) or, of course, the traditional analogue radiophonic broadcasting systems.
The drop in prices (and the ensuing large-scale dissemination) of other technologies related to recording and processing sound has radically altered the very definition of radiophonics: from low-cost portable digital recorders (which offer a quality that was only to be found with very expensive equipments until relatively recently) to the audio graphic editors (some of which can be downloaded free from the Internet), without forgetting the MP3 players, mobile telephones and other similar devices that have found a wide audience in all layers of society. This has all radically transformed the profiles of the radiophonic producers and listeners.
Radio cannot be immune to these changes and the creative processes that we usually try to describe as "radiophonic art" (even though these words usually refer to a range of very different situations) must assume a critical reflection of the possibilities (and the impossibilities) that characterise these new approaches to radiophonics. The practical implementation of radiophonic art projects based on these premises is possibly the best way to channel the aforementioned aesthetical reflections.
Workshop approach:
The “NO DIAL” workshop is a platform focused on developing the radiophonic art projects proposed by the participants. This means each project is followed up from its initial theoretical approaches to its dissemination using the most suitable media for each case, and not overlooking, and, in fact, paying special attention to, all the intermediate stages related to the production and implementation of each one.
During the workshop, the participants may use the Arteleku technical resources, along with those provided by the workshop coordinators (in fact, one of the objectives of "NO DIAL" is to familiarise the participants with different technological tools). The participants are also recommended to bring along any technical media that they own, particularly when they are really appropriate to implement their own projects.
The "NO DIAL” workshop will be based on discussing the ideas and proposals of each participant, and feedback and criticism will be given throughout the workshop. Each participant will share his/her experiences and knowledge with the others, and this also includes the guest participants (the artists José Iges and Alessandro Bosetti), along with the workshop coordinators (Miguel Álvarez-Fernández, Xabier Erkizia, Oier Iruretagoiena).
As can be seen from the above, the emphasis will be on group work. In fact, the first stages will consider and discuss the possibility of merging some of the initial approaches of the different participants in order to set up teams to work together during the workshop. It is, therefore, important to stress that not all the participants’ projects will able to be developed individually during the "NO DIAL" workshop.
Even though all the processes relating to designing, producing, implementing and disseminating a radiophonic art project will be analysed, the main objective of “NO DIAL” is not for all the projects to necessarily undergo all the stages in the workshop (as, in many cases, it would be impossible for time constraints), but rather to provide the participants with the necessary knowledge and experience to develop their projects fully.
Without prejudice to the above, one of the aims of “No DIAL” consists of establishing a stable on-line platform to be used to subsequently follow up on the projects started there, along with the maintenance (and, where applicable, expansion) of the networks set up during the workshop.
The coordinators will also foster the dissemination of all those projects started during the "NO DIAL” workshop which shall reach their full implementation during the months following the event. In particular, the projects where traditional radio is their ideal dissemination media shall be showcased on the Ars Sonora programme, directed by Miguel Álvarez-Fernández on Radio Clásica- the classical music station of Spanish National Radio (RNE), and they will also be offered to be disseminated through the European broadcasters belonging to the Ars Acustica of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Call for projects:
Any approach to the radiophonic media that includes an aesthetic dimension may be considered to be developed through the workshop. This includes, by way of example, proposals regarding musical creation, theatre, conceptual art, documentaries, re-reading conventional radiophonic formats, to technical experimentation with the possibilities of radiophonic transmission, to exploring communication networks, etc.
The project selection process has a double purpose: on the one hand, to choose the proposals that are of greatest interest from the point of view of radiophonic creation - in the opinion of the workshop coordinators -, and whose approach (beyond the possibilities of their specific implementation during the workshop) may enrich the shared reflections in “NO DIAL". On the other hand, examining the proposed projects will also be a criterion to select the participants in the workshop.
The submitted proposals, which must accompany all the "NO DIAL" applications, may adapt the format that is most appropriate, in each case, to the contents of each project (for example: Descriptive texts, sound recordings on CD, websites, computer programs, diagrams, scores, scripts, drawings….).
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Biographies
Miguel Álvarez-Fernández (Madrid, 1979) is a sound artist and a sound creation scholar. He’s done research and taught in this field, and he’s working on his PhD dissertation at the University of Oviedo. Moreover, he’s been a visiting scholar at the Electronic Music Studio of the Technical University of Berlin (TUB).
The findings of Álvarez-Fernández’s sound art research have been announced in many conferences, such as the In-Sonora Festival in Madrid, the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC) 2005 in Barcelona, the Dichotonies interdisciplinary workshop in Cologne, Germany, or the ICMC 2007 in Copenhagen. He’s published articles in international journals, catalogues, and magazines like ArteContexto, Espacio Sonoro, Future Music, o Hz Journal.
He’s also been the curator of different sound art projects; for instance, Festival Sonido Abierto of the Cervantes Institute in Berlin, or Medialab-Prado’s “Velada Musical” in Madrid. In addition, he’s the director and host of Ars Sonora, a show broadcast by Radio Clásica of Radio Nacional de España (RNE) on Friday midnight, and of the website www.arssonora.es.
José Iges. Madrid, 1951. Musical Composer and Intermedia Artist, he is also Industrial Engineer and Ph.D. in Sciences of Communication.
He starts on electroacoustic music at the ALEA Laboratory in Madrid; latter on, he attends to courses of improvement in the University of Pau (France) with David Johnson (1978) and to the classes that, about “Analysis and Techniques of Contemporary Music”, gives Luis de Pablo in the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid (1977-1979).
Since 1979 till 1984 he has been member of the Art and Computer Seminary and of the Madrid’s group ELENFANTE. As composer and performer in “live electronics” he has given many concerts with several soloists and groups and, since 1984 till now, with the actress-singer Esperanza Abad.
In 1989 he starts his collaboration with the artist Concha Jerez on sound and visual sculptures and installations, performances, radio art works and intermedia concerts.
The main axis of his work are the interaction between traditional instruments and recorded sounds and/or live electronic, and his personal use of the theatrical and radiophonic languages.
As producer in RNE (Radio Nacional de España) he has been the responsible, since 1985 till 2008, of the radio program “Ars Sonora”, devoted to broadcasting and production of Sound and Radio Art works. In this line, he has produced more than 80 works, among which we can mention L’Escalier des Aveugles, by Luc Ferrari, awarded with the “Prix Italia” of 1991. He also has been producer of the CD’s Broaden/in/Gates (1992) and Ríos Invisibles (1994), and director of events like Ciudades Invisibles (Madrid, 1992), as well as coproducer of the events Horizontal Radio (1995) and Rivers & Bridges (1996). He is, as well, and from its creation in 1989, founder-member of the working group “Ars Acustica” of the EBU (European Broadcasting Union), and he has been the coordinator of that group (1999-2005). He has been also president of the AMEE (Spanish Association of Electroacoustic Music)
Besides his activities on different artistic fields and on production, he has been developing an intense teachig activity, giving courses, seminaries and workshops on several Universities (Fine Arts Schools of Cuenca, Granada and Valencia, Facultad de Ciencias de la Información de Madrid) and institutions (Instituto de Estética y Teoría de las Artes de Madrid, CIEJ of Barcelona, Monasterio de Poio -Pontevedra-, Fundación Municipal de Cultura of Gijón and Valladolid, Centro de Arte Reina Sofía de Madrid, Radio Educación of Mexico, Conservatorio de Cuenca) about “Sound and Visual Installations” and “Radio Art”, as well as lectures, collaborating regularly on several specialized musical and artistic publications (Scherzo, Rítmo, Creación, RevistAtlántica de Poesía, El Urogallo, Doce Notas, Coclea, Transversal, Musica/Realtà, KunstMusik or Fisuras, among others, and on The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians). He is author of a book of narrative (Animales Domésticos, Ed.Libertarias, Madrid, 1987), a biography of Luigi Nono (Ed. CBA, Madrid, 1988) and a Doctoral Thesis about Radio Art (1997).
In 1997 he was the responsible of the collection of Sound Art sources for the Media Archive of the Fundació Caixa de Pensions (Barcelona). He has been also curator of the Sound Art section on ARCO ELECTRÓNICO, for the ARCO’ Art Fairs 1997, 1998 and 1999. He was the curator of the international exhibitions of sound sculptures and installations “The space of sound/The time of gaze” (Koldo Mitxelena Kulturunea, San Sebastián, 1999), “Resonances” (Museo Municipal, Málaga, 2000) and “Sound Dimension” (KM, San Sebastián, 2007), as well as of the exhibition “Vostell and the Music” (Museo Vostell Malpartida, 2002-2003) and I Muestra de Arte Sonoro Español, MASE (Córdoba-Lucena, 2006) (www.mase.es). He has been also organizer for specialized series of concerts on Reina Sofía Center of Art (Madrid), Sala Amárica (Vitoria) and Museo Vostell Malpartida (Malpartida de Cáceres)
Alessandro Bosetti. Was born in Milan, Italy in 1973. Composer and sound artist. He works on the musicality of spoken words and unusual aspects of spoken communication and produced text-sound compositions featured in live performances, radio broadcastings and published recordings. In his work he moves on the line between sound anthropology and composition often including translation and misunderstanding in the creative process. Field research and interviews often build the basis for his abstract compositions along with electro-acoustic and acoustic collages, relational strategies,trained and untrained instrumental practices, vocal explorations and digital manipulations. Since he's curious about differences he travels. Just in 2006 he's been living and working in West Africa, China, Taiwan, Holland, Scandinavia, United States , Germany and Italy. For the future he plans to be living and working between Berlin (D), Milano (I) and Baltimore (USA)
